After staying up late the night before for Independence Day celebrations, it was hard to get up for class. However, Nina and I did manage to get to class on time. Today was interesting because the project leader for the controversial Karahnjukar Hydroelectric Project came and spoke with us about the construction and function of the dam, which will play a part in a large hydropower plant that in turn provides electricity for Alcoa, a large American aluminum plant. The aluminum plants like to operate in Iceland because smelters are really energy intensive, and Iceland provides an abundance of (renewable) energy at a relatively cheap price. However, Icelanders are concerned that the land is being exploited by big industry and that if these practices are allowed than Iceland's environment could be in jeopardy.
When the lecture was finished, we ate lunch and then regrouped to prepare for our debate. The students were divided into two groups of eight, one group arguing pro large hydropower projects, and the other group arguing against it. We had about 45 minutes to prepare an opening statement, rebuttal, defense, and finally closing statement. We then sat on opposite sides of the room and began our formal debate. Having only participated in open discussions, and never a formal debate, I found the process quite stimulating. Our study abroad leader Caitlin, and our speaker took notes on our debate and concluded that my group (pro) was the winner.
In Icelandic class we went on a walk with our teacher out of town. Along the way she would teach us words and we could ask how to say certain things we encountered along the walk. Afterwards, I went to the local used books store to see if I could find a new book, but there were mainly in Icelandic or American romance novels.
So, I went home for dinner and we had a very good soup that was kind of like tortilla soup. Nina's host family is on vacation and they told her to use the house to invite friends over while they're away. So, at around 10:00 pm we all met at Nina's and played games before going downtown. We went to Cafe Amour again and danced for a while, and I ended up going home around 2:30 am since I was rather tired. For such a small town, it's crazy how many people come out to party. All of the boys and girls dress the same, it's kind of funny, and everybody gets really rowdy, throwing beer bottles on the ground and we saw two guys almost start fighting. Overall it's safe though, the Icelanders just enjoy letting loose
Tomorrow my host family is renting a car so we can go to the Aviation Museum nearby and in the evening I'm going to the Hjalmar concert (the reggae band).
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